Alain let out a small murmur of discomfort as sunlight came spilling through the spaces between the nearby blinds over the window, landing directly on his eyes. A groan escaped him as he brought a hand up to cover his eyes.

  "Good God…" he muttered irritably. "I'm up, I'm up…"

  "Oh, good," he heard Sable, of all people, say from next to him. "I was wondering when you were going to awaken."

  Instantly, Alain froze dead in his tracks. Slowly, he looked over to his side, his eyes widening even further when he saw Sable lying under the covers next to him. She had the sheets drawn up to the middle of her neck.

  "Sable," Alain greeted. "...Please tell me you're fully dressed under there."

  "Now, whatever could you mean by that, Alain?" she asked, faux-outrage creeping into her voice. "You make it sound as though you wouldn't want to behold my naked form."

  "...Even for me, that'd be moving pretty fast," he ventured.

  Sable gave him a smirk, just wide enough for him to see the tips of her fangs. "You are flustered," she observed.

  "Yeah, it's hard not to be. Now, seriously, did we actually-"

  Sable cut him off by pulling the covers down, revealing that she was still fully clothed. Alain stared at her for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief.

  "Good," he said. "That's good."

  "Oh, come now, Alain," she told him. "Am I truly that undesirable to you?"

  "Alright, alright, I get it – at this point, I might as well open my mouth and put my own foot in it before I dig myself even deeper." He shook his head. "You're horrible, you know that?"

  "If I had known you were this easy, I would have tried to fluster you long ago," Sable said, her grin returning. After a moment, she let out a long sigh. "Thank you for playing along, Alain. I needed that after everything we have been through over the past few days."

  "What can I say? I aim to please." Alain let out a yawn. "Know what time it is, by the way?"

  "Just after seven, I believe."

  Alain paused. "...That late, huh?"

  "Do you have somewhere to be?"

  "Hopefully not Congress, but at the rate things are going, I don't know for sure."

  After that, Sable's grin faded. "You truly think the Colonel wasn't able to get them to pause the proceedings?"

  "I don't know," Alain explained. "I certainly hope he was, but we won't know for sure until we speak with Colonel Stone this morning." He shook his head. "Still, no sense in worrying about it; it's essentially out of our control."

  "...Yes, I suppose you're correct," Sable conceded. "Still, I must admit, I do not like not being in-control to this degree. Your Congressmen… are they usually this bad?"

  "Truthfully? Yeah, usually. At least, that's my understanding of it. If you want a more firsthand complaint session about them, you should speak to Danielle, because I'm sure she's got stories."

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Alain looked out the window again, frowning as he did so. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get downstairs now. I'm pretty sure I smell someone cooking bacon, and if I can smell it from here, that means Az can as well, and I'd really rather have some of it for myself before he eats it all like usual."

  Sable nodded. "Of course. Lead the way."

  XXX

  A minute later, Alain and Sable were descending the stairs to the hotel's lobby. Predictably, Az was there along with Danielle and Father Michaelson. Alain couldn't help but frown when he saw Az had a plate already piled high with bacon in front of him.

  "Son of a bitch, I knew we should have double-timed it…" he muttered.

  "Hey, there are the lovebirds," Danielle greeted.

  "Maybe not," Sable said to him as he grimaced. Still, the two of them made their way over to the table and took a seat; Alain gave Danielle a grateful nod as she set a plate of food in front of him.

  "Made sure to save you some," she explained.

  'Thanks," he said as he picked up a nearby fork and knife, then began to dig in.

  "Good morning, my lady," Az said to Sable. "Sleep well?"

  "The best in a long time, in fact," she replied evenly. "Why do you ask?"

  "Well, I noticed that the door to your room was unlocked and open last night, while the door to Alain's was closed. It wasn't hard to put two and two together, so to speak."

  Alain sighed tiredly. "Alright, let me just stop you there. Yes, Sable and I slept together, but that's literally all we did, and I'm pretty sure it was only because I passed out from exhaustion and she didn't want to disturb me and wake me up by trying to leave the room. Nothing physical happened between us aside from a hug."

  Danielle scowled. "Damn, and here I was, hoping you'd both finally decided to stop dancing around the issue."

  "What issue?" Alain asked. Nobody answered his question after a few seconds, and his brow furrowed. "Seriously, what issue?"

  "No offense, Alain, but it's been painfully obvious what Sable's feelings are for you from the get-go," Father Michaelson admitted.

  Alain just stared at him. "...You're kidding," he deadpanned. "Even the damn priest saw it before I did?"

  "She wasn't exactly being subtle about it," Danielle told him. "You're just a dumbass when it comes to this kind of thing, I guess."

  Alain scowled. "Thanks, that's really reassuring."

  "Dunce or not, I'm glad you noticed her pining for you,," Az commented. "You both have my blessing, for what it's worth."

  "I don't know what you're trying to imply with that-"

  "Oh, my apologies, I thought it was still customary for the closest thing the woman had to a relative to say they approved of the relationship. My mistake; I had no idea that had fallen out of fashion. That being said, you both do still have my approval, should you wish to consummate your newfound relationship-"

  "Az!" Sable shouted, flushing a deep red as she did so.

  Az smirked at her. Alain, meanwhile, let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

  "...Look," he said, "I appreciate you all trying to lift everyone's spirits, but seriously, Sable and I still don't know what our relationship actually is, aside from us both having acknowledged that there's something between us deeper than friendship. If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to table this discussion until after we've finished up with Congress and figured out what's going on with Cleo."

  Az's smirk faded. "Alain, you of all people should realize how short and fleeting life is. I don't mean to push you two into doing something you may not be prepared for, but given the sheer amount of danger we are all experiencing on a regular basis, perhaps it would be best to reconsider your stance at least a bit?"

  Alain sighed again, turning back towards his breakfast. "Maybe in a bit," he conceded through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "I don't think either of us is really prepared for what a relationship would entail."

  "I am inclined to agree," Sable said with a nod. "For now, we must focus on what's most important."

  "And out of everything, what would that be, exactly?" Danielle asked.

  At that moment, the doors to the hotel's lobby came swinging open, and Colonel Stone stepped in, flanked by several of his men. Alain looked up from his breakfast in time to meet the Colonel's eyes, and grimaced when he saw that Stone did not look happy.

  "Colonel," Alain greeted as he and his men stepped over to their table. "Let me guess – it's bad news?"

  "How could you tell?" Colonel Stone asked.

  "Just a sixth sense I have, we'll call it. How bad is it, exactly?"

  "Senator Harding is insisting we continue with the proceedings," Colonel Stone reported. "And unfortunately for us, he has the majority of the other Congressmen on his side, meaning he's got enough pull to keep things moving along in that direction for now."

  Danielle's eyes narrowed. "That's ridiculous," she declared.

  "Indeed," Sable growled. "Does he not understand how dangerous Cleo is? Until we figure out why she's here and have stopped her from doing whatever it is she's trying to do, we cannot afford to sit idly by and let them question us for hours a day like they have been."

  "I know, and that's what's so frustrating about this." Colonel Stone crossed his arms. "Believe me, I explained all of that to them and then some, but Senator Harding insisted, as did most of the other Congressmen."

  Az scowled at that. "Crazy fools…" he muttered. "What is it with you humans and choosing the worst kinds of people to rule over you? Your Congressmen seem like little more than weak, feckless cowards."

  "Best not to let them hear you speak of them like that, otherwise they'll probably drag these proceedings out even more than they already have." Colonel Stone let out an irritated sigh. "Anyway, I did my best to try and convince them to at least table this discussion until after we figured everything out, but they wouldn't hear of it. Something about having this many vampires in one place has them all spooked like nothing else, and they want answers."

  "Or someone to pin the whole thing on," Alain said.

  "Yes, probably that as well."

  "So, what are we doing?" Father Michaelson questioned.

  "The same thing we've been doing, unfortunately," Colonel Stone lamented.

  "You all had best finish eating quickly, because Congress will be in session in the next thirty minutes. And as much as I hate to say it, I suggest you all be there when it is."

  With that, the Colonel turned and walked back outside, his men following after him. Alain watched him go, his eyes narrowing in the process.

  "That fucking figures…" Alain muttered. "The whole damn world's coming apart at the seams, and Congress still wants to play stupid games like this…"

  Sable rested a hand on his shoulder, and he gave her a grateful nod before letting out a tired sigh.

  "Okay," he said. "Let's go get this shit over with, I guess."